How To Use Your Website To Make A Lasting Impression On Your Customers

How To Use Your Website To Make A Lasting Impression On Your Customers

by | May 4, 2020 | Web Design

So you run a small business or perhaps you are looking to start one. Want to know one of the best ways to make a lasting impression on your customers? It is not just your logo or your website, its how you use your website that matters.

There are some changes, many times simple ones that can make the world of difference to your customers. We will share some ways you can tweak your current website so that it resonates with your customers.

Ways to use your website to make a lasting impression:

Storytelling – We are not talking about your about page, or even your bio. Truth be told your customers many times never even read those pages. Your story should be transparent as well as compelling. Sharing your company’s story should be weaved throughout your website in a way that it is remembered even if your site is not.

Credibility – A website many times is the first ‘impression’ a customer will have of your business. Making your website visually attractive and professional will go a long way. When your website message is clear and compelling with great content visitors will begin to trust you. Provide content that is relevant to your industry and leverages your expertise will make a lasting impression as you become their go-to resource.

Call to Action – Your customers come to your site for a purpose. With that purpose in mind, it should align with your ask. Your ask should be clear and placed appropriately where they are looking. Your call to action should be in several places on the homepage of your site. Make sure you place your call to action at the top of the page, the middle of the page as well as towards the bottom. Doing so will give your customers different opportunities as well as reminders to take action.

Homepage – Unless you are utilizing landing pages for promotions or lead generation, the most visited page of your site is your homepage. You have only a few seconds to make a lasting impression on your homepage. It needs to be clean, eye-catching. Your homepage should provide relevant information that your customers are looking for. This is your place to really shine and set yourself apart from your competition. You should use your homepage to briefly tell them the solution you are providing that solves their problem.

Make it Easy – No one wants to visit a website that is hard to navigate. Make it confusing or cumbersome and they will never stick around for your compelling message or anything else. Use the navigation menu appropriately and keep it simple. Your customer is looking for information about the products or services that you sell. They are not interested in being bombarded with popups or irrelevant information that does little beyond confuse and irritate the visitor.

Put in the Work – Make your website one that stands out from others. This will entail more time, budget, and effort. Planning the design in an insightful user-friendly way will make a lasting impression. It should be an enjoyable experience for your customers rather than a task. Use the latest in design features, don’t be afraid to adjust, do some A/B testing to see what works. Your website represents you and your brand and you put so much hard work into creating your brand, your website should also represent the same level of work.

Accessibility – Everyone says that ‘everyone is not your client’ right? That does not mean that everyone should not be able to use your website. When you make your website accessible and user-friendly to everyone, you show that your business cares. Even if your customer does not have an accessibility issue, they will take note that you put forth the effort to make the website usable by anyone of any capability.

Interested in learning more about how to use your website to make a lasting impression on your customers? We at HeartWired are happy to discuss ways that you can improve your website and its messaging. Schedule a complimentary discovery session today to discuss. If you are completely happy with your website and its message that is great as well.

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Intellectual Property: Expectation vs. Reality

Intellectual Property: Expectation vs. Reality

by | Apr 27, 2020 | Web Design

Intellectual property is a hot topic, especially for web designers and other creative professionals. Clients want to own their ‘product’. Web designers create the design with assumed copyright when published. For some clients, they may want a different level of protection. Clients have filed to obtain a copyright, submit patents, trademarks, or other protections.

We have compiled an overview of some of the ways you can protect your intellectual property online. As creatives, we do our best to protect the integrity of what we design, even with that there are limitations. There are also attorneys that will be happy to help if you need further guidance.

Web Designers that use “open source” platforms such as WordPress, while there is assumed copyright protecting the design and code. It is understood that the code and design can be essentially copied and used elsewhere, hence the term “open source.”

Open source is a term that originally referred to open source software (OSS). Open-source software is code that is designed to be publicly accessible—anyone can see, modify, and distribute the code as they see fit. ~ Red Hat

What is a Copyright?

Copyrights are stated protections that are granted to the original authors of certain types of work, generally for a limited amount on time. As web designers, there is assumed copyright that protects the intellectual property upon publishing. According to the Government, “Under the copyright law, the creator of the original expression in a work is its author. The author is also the owner of copyright unless there is a written agreement by which the author assigns the copyright to another person or entity, such as a publisher. In cases of works made for hire, the employer or commissioning party is considered to be the author.”

What about Patents?

Patents generally protect inventions. While you might be working with a client that has a patent. Usually, web developers themselves would not be inventing anything. Yet, if you do or are involved in a project that is, you want to be sure that the patent that is filed, which lasts for twenty years is truly of your client’s or your own invention. Keep in mind that only the invention itself gets a patent not the idea of one.

How do Trademarks Differ?

Trademarks serve one main purpose and that is to protect your ‘brand’ from being stolen. This could include things like your logo, name, and other features associated such as taglines, packaging, even custom fonts or designs. If you intend to file for a trademark, we recommend that you do so in the early stages. That way you have the protection before you get noticed and someone else has the opportunity to use it before filing.

So What Do These Have to do with Intellectual Property?

It is important that a business, nonprofit, or even an entrepreneur with an idea, protects themselves early on. While we would like to think that people are not malicious. We need to make sure to look after ourselves before someone steals our work out from under us. Understanding the differences in the protections available will help defend you against it from being stolen. It also provides what action you can take if it is.

Whether you decide to protect your intellectual property is your choice. The content itself, when published, is protected by assumed copyright. A filed copyright gives an extra level of protection and the legal rights to take action if it is stolen.

If you are a web designer, you can avoid problems by using only content that is either completely original, verifiably in the public domain, or for which you have the signed consent of the owner.~ AIGA

While intellectual property laws are only valid in the country of origin. There are many treaties and trade agreements that provide international protection as well. The items mentioned in this post are the common laws that come into play when it comes to designing a website. There are other intellectual property laws and guidelines besides the ones mentioned here. Laws that protect other creatives such as authors, artists, photographers, and more.

As a web designer or developer, it is best to have a broad knowledge of intellectual property laws. Many times the level of protection you provide determines the amount of knowledge you have. Having basic knowledge to direct them to the correct resources will be enough. Keep in mind when setting expectations, we are creatives, not lawyers. At the end of the day, it is the client’s prerogative to which they want to pursue.

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5 Tips on How to Keep Marketing Compassionate During COVID-19

5 Tips on How to Keep Marketing Compassionate During COVID-19

by | Apr 10, 2020 | Business

The past few weeks have been one for the record books. We all have been forced to adjust amid this latest pandemic COVID-19. Personally, social distancing is a bit of a normal daily routine as is washing our hands. However, the latest events have even introverts like us a bit weary.

Our company is used to working remotely so that has not been a huge change for us. Our daily operations, along with the closures of vendors, clients, and a shift in our normal activities has been a cause for reevaluating our processes.

During these uneasy times, there are a lot of questions we keep hearing from other small businesses as well as other agencies. Many of these questions surround marketing, and how or even if they should be promoting themselves or their services during times of fear. Should we talk about COVID-19? Will we keep selling while people are cutting back? Shall we discuss the things we are doing to keep our customers safe? How much is too much or how little is too little as far as our level of communication and transparency?

So many questions, it is all a bit overwhelming to consider, isn’t it?

At HeartWired Digital, we put a great deal of effort into being transparently human in everything we do. Compassion for others is our focal point as we believe that people are the pulse of our business. We do this with intention, and even when we are in crisis as many would say we are now, we do our research first before being compulsory in our messaging.

Would it be easier to jump on the pandemic bandwagon and use fear of the unknown as a tactic? Possibly. Is it better to use a knee-jerk reaction to a media story? Or to change our message in order to fit the mainstream? Perhaps. You will not find us or hopefully our clients doing either though. In times of uncertainty, do you need to adjust your sails? Absolutely! Do you need to quit marketing and start placating to the whims of others? Never!

We have put together some tips on how to effectively (and compassionately) market your business during the COVID-19 crisis.

First and foremost before we even jump into that, one thing you should NOT be doing at this time is…

“Don’t use fear to get sales!”

This should go without saying, but so many messages out there are manipulating peoples’ emotions by focusing on fear. This is the time to be transparent and provide security rather than take advantage of a vulnerable population. Do things now, that provide even a higher level of sensitivity than you may even normally provide. The way we as businesses behave in times of need will reflect in loyalty from your customers in times of comfort.

Now back to the tips businesses can use to keep marketing compassionate during COVID-19.

Tips on How to Keep Marketing Compassionate During COVID-19

While we are in uncharted waters for our time as far as marketing goes, or just business in general. While it is okay to market, in fact, we encourage you to market your brand during these uneasy times versus stopping. It all takes a different level of sensitivity to your message as well as what your clients need.

Your Emails May Need Rewriting

Many companies write their marketing emails weeks if not months in advance and then schedule them using their CRM. While this is a great practice to ensure that you have campaigns running while creativity may be lapsing. The emails you wrote in February quite possibly are not the right message you should be using now. A good practice is to review your upcoming emails to ensure they are empathetic to the time we currently are surviving in.

Social Media Marketing for Information Rather Than Sales

Advertising dollars should be spent on social media marketing as you usually would. In fact, you may even consider increasing them with the upcoming bonuses from both Google and Facebook while available. Your message likely needs to adjust. Right now many people have slowed or even suspended their spending. Rather than advertising for sales, now is the time to be marketing to build. Build your list by providing more value through your marketing.

Market Value for Sales Later

People are scared and they don’t know what the economy looks like tomorrow. Many small to mid-size businesses are struggling to keep their doors open. The last thing they need or want is another sales pitch. If you have the capacity to focus beyond tomorrow and offer more value today for free, you will be remembered. They will remember the one that provided empathy and were willing to give away their content during times of uncertainty. If you are constantly pitching people to buy during your “Coronavirus Sale”, you likely are losing more customers than you will ever gain.

It’s Not About You, It Never Was.

People like to know that the businesses that they give their hard-earned money to, care about them. Let me rephrase, people like to have a relationship with the local businesses they support. This means your messaging needs to reflect your community. If you are providing different hours, better pricing, or new services during this time, let them know. People will care more about that than hearing how you are washing your hands, cleaning after your customers, and have stockpiles of toilet paper. Those are all things people take for granted that you are already doing on a daily basis, they really don’t want to read about it in your newsletter or on your website.

Make Sure Your Business Can Be Found

How we all are used to doing business has likely changed forever, or at least in part. The new normal will look a bit different than the way small to medium-sized businesses do business. One thing many realized quickly as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded is they needed a way to be found. Many businesses resorted to marketing their message on solely social media since they did not have a website. Unfortunately, everyone did that and therefore their message likely was muted if not blocked entirely. Having a website, even a simple brochure site has become vital. Not only in times when everyone is online but also when we return to our new normal.

Prepare Now for Tomorrow’s Surge (Extra Tip)

Whenever there is a crisis that affects our economy, especially an economy as strong as ours was before this all started, you need to be prepared for the surge. People are resilient. They will be looking to grow their business and make up for lost time and income. One way to prepare your business now for the surge is to ensure not only your message but also your SEO, your brand, your story, will all resonate and have a long-reaching effect. While we are in this “stay at home” model for the short-term, businesses need to be working on the long-term as far as their marketing goals and strategy.

Wrapping Up

At HeartWired we have always tried to meet our customers where they are (currently this includes Zoom meetings, Chats, Email, etc.). The more businesses are able to be flexible and adjust to the changing times, we increase our chances of not only survival but growth.

We understand these are uncertain times and hope that you have been able to gain some insight on how to adjust your marketing accordingly to the brand new world we live in. The ability to pivot and adjust your verticle markets allows your business to grow even during times like these.

Empathy and compassion for others will gain more loyalty in the long run than any other marketing campaign you and your creative team can come up with.

If you would like to discuss how HeartWired Digital Solutions can help your business grow, please contact us online or give us a call 904.660.5185.

Stay healthy and safe everyone, together we are stronger.

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